A subject such as a person, object, or landscape is picked up using an image pick-up device, and the picked up still image is compressed using a JPEG standard, JPEG 2000 standard, or the like so as to be stored in a recording medium. As a recording medium, there is available an internal memory incorporated in the image pick-up device, a removable recording medium detachably attached to the image pick-up device, and the like.
A user then uses a computer to collectively move (archive) still image data stored in such a recording medium to a large-capacity recording medium such as a hard disc or optical disc. Further, in recent years, broadband lines such as high-bandwidth line or high-speed line have been becoming popular along with an advancement of a network technology. The user utilizes such a broadband line to transmit a still image with a large data size on E-mail or upload the image to an ordinary Web site and a diary-like Web site (Blog) operated and updated by an individual or a small group.
With such various scenes of use in mind, the user uses an image management software application to manage a large number of still images stored in the large-capacity recording medium in an easy-to-search and easy-to-browse manner by sorting the images by pickup date. According to need, the user uses an image editing software application to edit a target still image.
There is available a computer or a set-top box that can store programs available through digital terrestrial broadcasting/digital satellite broadcasting or through network delivery in a large-capacity recording medium such as a hard disc or optical disc to allow users to enjoy desired program whenever they want.
Under such an environment, there may be a case where the user searches for a specific program from a plurality of stored programs so as to watch only a specific scene in the target specific program. In this case, the plurality of programs are sorted by recording date and program category (sports, drama, news, etc.) for display, as well as the first screens of respective scenes of the respective programs are displayed in thumbnail view, allowing the user to select his or her desired scene.
Thus, as the number of still image data or recorded program data is increased, it becomes difficult for the user to find a specific data from a large number of data. In view of this, techniques relating to a user-friendly display interface have been proposed (refer to, e.g., Patent Documents 1 to 3). In addition to techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3, there is known a technique of analyzing still images themselves and arranging them on a display screen in a sorted manner according to their feature amounts obtained by the analysis.    Patent Document 1: WO2000/033455    Patent Document 2: WO2000/033570    Patent Document 3: WO2000/033572
However, in the case where the number of still image data or program data becomes huge, it is not enough to simply sort the still image data or program data by pick-up date, recording date, category, or the like in order to realize a user-friendly display interface.
Further, there has not yet been disclosed a technique on how to perform the sorting and displaying so as to realize a user-friendly display interface in the case where data to be managed is a moving picture (video data). Further, with a conventional display interface, it has been difficult for the user to intuitively recognize what feature the entire moving picture has or where a specific scene that the user desires is located in the entire moving picture.